Associate Professor
Tel.: 2681050540
email: k.kalaitzidis@uoi.gr
Scientific field: Musicology and musical practice with emphasis on the musical traditions of Constantinople.
Courses: Art Music of the East, Music creation and improvisation: Greek and Middle East Music, Arabo-Persian Music, Performance – Oud, Music Analysis ΙΙ: Greek and Eastern Music, Music Ensemble.
Kyriakos Kalaitzidis was born in Thessaloniki in 1969. Since a young age, he frequented the psaltic choir of his local church. He studied Byzantine music under Eleftherios Georgiades, former Archon Lambadarios of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, earning a Degree in Byzantine Music, Alex Tournaissen Conservatory (Athens 1990) unanimously graded “excellent” and a Diploma in Byzantine Music, Alex Tournaissen Conservatory (Athens 1993) unanimously graded “excellent”.
He holds a B.A. from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Theology, Upper Second Class Honours (2004). In 2011 he completed his doctoral dissertation titled: “Post-Byzantine Music Manuscripts as a Source for Oriental Secular Music, 15th c. – 1830”, under the supervision of Gregorios Stathis, unanimously graded “excellent, while receiving a scholarshipfrom the “Mundo en Harmonia” foundation”.
Since 1988 he has been developing a multifaceted work that focuses on the research, teaching and artistic practice of Oriental music. Founder and Artistic Director of En Chordais (1993 up to today). The main objectives of En Chordais, as set out in the organisation’s statutes, are the research, study, teaching and presentation of musical heritage, the search for and reconstruction of the elements of a shared musical culture of the Mediterranean through collaborations with musicians, research centres, educational bodies from around the Mediterranean and Europe and, finally, the support and promotion of new musical creation that engages with these traditions. Kyriakos Kalaitzidis’ main responsibilities within the organisation have included: Development of the curriculum, Scientific editing of publications, Implementation of network projects, for example the EU projects MORE, Εxtra! and MELOS (you can see more in www.enchordais.gr).
He was the artistic director of the European project MediMuses (2002-2005) with research, educational and artistic activities in eleven Mediterranean countries (www.medimuses.gr), the festival “Music of the World” Municipality of Thessaloniki (2012) and artistic advisor of Rialto Ethnic Limassol Festival (2011 – 2014).
He has given lectures, workshops and master classes in institutions such as Princeton University, Harvard University, Université de Strasbourg, Istanbul State Conservatory, Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), Torino University, Ca’ Foscari University (Venice), Holy Cross College (Boston), New England Conservatory, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Kuwait Opera House, Masion d’Unesco (Paris), The Lebanese National Higher Conservatory (Beirut), The National Music Conservatory (Amman) and Institut Supérieur de Music (Tunis). On autumn semester 2015 he taught as visiting professor at Turkish Music Department of Yıldırım Beyazıt University (Ankara).
AWARDS
· “Prix Academie Charles Cros” 2014 for the album “The Musical Voyages of Marco Polo”.
· “Prix Academie Charles Cros” 2015 for the album “Aman Sefarad!”.
· “Prix France Musique des Musiques du Monde” / Radio France (Marseille 2008).
· Official Hellenic nominee for the Unesco “Sharjah Prize” for Arabic Culture (2006).
Research projects
· Pilot project for post-Byzantine music manuscripts transcriptions organized by the Orient- Institut Istanbul, Max Weber Stiftung (October 2016 – April 2017).
Petros Peloponnesios (1740-1778): Biography, locating – documentation of his secular music works, morphological analysis, in the frame of EU MediMuses project (May 2004-February 2005).
Artistic Director of the MediMuses project in the framework of the Euromed Heritage II program of European Union (February 2002 – July 2005) with research, artistic and educational activities in 13 countries of the Mediterranean and Europe. The project, with a total budget of € 3.7 million focused on documenting, promoting and teaching the common modal musical culture of the Mediterranean. His main responsibilities within the project were:
– Elaboration and implementation of the academic and artistic actions of the project.
– Overall responsibility for the Editorial Committee and the publication of a two-volume work on the History and Theory of Mediterranean Music, involving thirty-five scholars and authors from twelve countries.
– Editing and publication of six corpuses of works by important Mediterranean composers.
– Overall responsibility for the production of twelve CDs with extensive booklets in three languages in the series Great Masters and Great Composers of the Mediterranean.
– Scientific and Artistic responsibility for the programs of the International Meetings devoted to the instruments of the Mediterranean (Oud (Thessaloniki 2002); Qanun (Beirut 2003); Ney (Istanbul 2003); Percussions (Tunis 2004); Violin (Amman 2004); Voice (London 2005); Luth (Athnes – 2005).
Zakharia Khanendeh (18th century): Biography, locating – documentation of his works, morphological analysis, organized by En Chordais (May 1999-September 2001).
“The musical traditions of Oinousses”, organized by the Oinousses Maritime Museum (June 1999-June 2000).
Yorgo Bacanos (1900-1977): Biography, locating – documentation of his works, elements of his performance style, organized by En Chordais (May 1995-February 1997).
Performances
· As artistic director of “En Chordais” ensemble or as soloist participation in more than 2000 concerts in 45 countries in major festivals and venues, among them at Berlin Philharmonie, Sydney Opera House, Salle Pleyel – Philharmonie de Paris, The Lincoln Center (NYC), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Alte Oper Frankfurt, Opera de Lyon, Theatre de la Ville (Paris), Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Carl-Orff Saal Gasteig (Munich), Maison Symphonic (Montreal), San Marco (Venice), South Bank (London), “Silk Road Arts Festival” (Hong Kong), Melbourne Recital Centre, Cornel Univercity (Ithaca), Princeton University, Fès Festival (Morocco), Les Suds à Arles festival, Etnosoi! Festival (Helsinki), Beiteddine Festival (Lebanon), Festival International de Carthage (Tunis), Ten Days on the Island (Tasmania), Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris), Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall (Istanbul), Festival Radio France Montpelier, Cite de la Music (Marseille), The International Jerusalem Oud Festival, Stimmen Festival (Lörach), Ancient Theater of Epidaurus, Benaroya Hall (Seattle), Enescu Festival (Bucharest), Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Journées Musicales de Carthage (Tunis), Cairo Opera House and many others in cooperation with a large number of eminent artists and ensembles from several countries of the Mediterranean (The Orchestra of the National Opera House of Timisoara, L’Ensemble Orchestral de Tunisie, Ensemble Constantinople, State Academic Simphony orchestra of the Republic of Kazakstan, Al Kamandjati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre du Pays Segréen, Anton Pan Ensemble, Dhruba Ghosh, Paco Peňa, Naseer Shamma, Juan Carmona, Kudsi Ergüner, Melihat Gülses, Thessaloniki State Orchestra, National Greek Radio Orchestra, Zohar Fresco, Liu Fang, Didem Başar, Françoise Atlan, Yelda Özgen, Necip Gülses, Siamak Aghaei, Elia Khoury Vahit Anadolu, Imane Homsy, Ghada Sbeir, Samir Siblini, Sonia M’ barek, Dorsaf Hamdani, Ara Dinkjian, Kiya Tabassian, Ηossein Omoumi, Keyvan Chemirani, Ziya Tabassian, Mohamed Rosdi, Neva Özgen, Hasan Faqir, Nodira Pirmatova, Marco Rosa Salva, Cristiano Constantin, Pietro Prosser, Amartuvshin Baasandorj, Lingling Yu…).
· Solo performances at Sydney Opera House (2011), Amsterdam Oud Festival (2015), International Luth Festival (Tetouan 2014), Istanbul International “Yorgo Bacanos” Ud Festival, Maison d’ Unesco – Day of Arabic Music (Paris 2010), USEK (Beirut 2009), Cemal Resit Rey Consert Hall (Istanbul 2008), International Oud Meeting (Muscat 2006), International Luth Meeting (Athens 2005), International Oud Meeting in Jerash Festival (Amman 2003), International Oud Meeting (Thessaloniki 2002), Athens Concert Hall (2000), International Cultural Center of Hammamet (Tunisia 2021).
Compositional work
· The Musical Voyages of Marco Polo, commissioned by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region of the People’s Rebublic of China for the “Silk Road Arts Festival”. Hong Kong, 2009. Also at: Thessaloniki Concert Hall (2010). Beiteddine Festival, Lebanon (2013). Onassis Cultural Center, Athen (2013). Trinity St. Paul’s Center, Toronto (2014). Palais Montcalm, Quebec (2014). Maison Symphonique, Montreal (2014). Salle Pleyel – Philharmonie de Paris, (2014). Berlin Philharmonie (2015). Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2015). Malta International Arts Festival (2015). Festival de Carthage, Tunisia (2015). Festival d’Ile de France (2015). Almaty Republic Palace, Kazakhstan (2016). Chios Mastic Museum, Greece (2017). Stimmen Festival, Lörach (2017). Enescu Festival, Bucharest (2017). Sori Festival, South Korea (2017). Al Kamandjati Festival (2018). Bozar, Brussels (2019). Herakleion Festival (2021). Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall, Istanbul (2021)
· Exile. The project has was performed at: Alte Oper, Frenkfurt (2017). Le Rocher de Palmer, Bordeaux (2017). Pafos – Culture Capital of Europre (2017). Casino Gesellschaft, Wiesbaden (2018). Alte Wollfabrik, Schwetzingen (2018). Opéra de Lyon (2018). Herakleion Festival (2018). De Centrale, Gent (2018). Munstrhof, Strasbourg (2019). Scène Nationale de Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy (2019). La Marberie, Paris (2019). Princeton University (2019). Cornell University, Ithaca (2019). First Church of Cambridge, Boston (2019). Philharmonie de Paris (2021).
· The Fairytale of the Music, commissioned by the Thessaloniki Concert Hall (2007). Athens Concert Hall (2008). Lincoln Center, New York (2014). Bernhard Theater, Zurich (2015). Silk Museum, Soufli (2016). Piraeus Bank Cultural Foundation, Thessaloniki (2016). Werkraum Schoepflin Lörach (2017). Putzbrunn Cultural Center, Munich (2018). Ancient Theater of Maronia, Thrace (2019).
· The Unforgotten Garden, commissioned by the Hellenic Opera House (2018). Also at: Patriarchal Foundation for Patristic Studies, Thessaloniki (2018). Musa Hellenica Festival, Chios (2018). Festival of Eastern Music, Xanthi (2021).
Theater – Cinema – Television (selection)
· Meltem. Music for the film of Vassilis Doganis (2018). Production: Elzevir Films – France & Blonde Audiovisual Productions – Greece.
· Prosmoni. Music for the Apocalypse of St. John commissioned by the State Theater of Northern Greece (1996).
· A Journey in the World with an Oud. A documentary follows Kyriakos Kalaitzidis’ thirty-years music journey. Direction: Yannis Remoundos. Production: Hellenic National Television (2019): (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NowfX17q8-c&t=35s).
· Musical curator of three documentaries of the series “Ethnopholia” (2015). Production: Al Mayadeen satellite channel (Lebanon).
Selection of publications
A. Books
1. Κοσμική μουσική σε χειρόγραφους κώδικες εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής [Secular Music in Ecclesiastical Music Manuscripts], Institute of Byzantine Musicology, 500 pp., Athens 2020.
2. Rediscovered Musical Treasures: Exegeses of Secular Oriental Music, edited and transcribed from post-Byzantine music manuscripts into staff notation (with Thomas Apostolopoulos), National Music University, 144 pp., Bucharest 2019.
3. Post-Byzantine Music Manuscripts as a Source for Oriental Secular Music, 15th – early 19th century, Orient-Institut Istanbul – Ergon Verlag, 356 pp., Würzburg 2012.
4. Zakharia Khanendeh, critical edition of secular and ecclesiastical music works, Project MediMuses in the context of European Union programme Euromed Heritage II, 140 pp., Thessaloniki 2005.
5. Το ούτι, Μέθοδος εκμάθησης [Oud Method], En Chordais press. 223 pp., Thessaloniki 1996 (second editions 2000, third edition 2004).
B. Studies – Conference Proceedings – Articles in collective volumes
1. “Το χειρόγραφο αριθ. 44 της βιβλιοθήκης του Ελληνικού Φιλολογικού Συλλόγου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως” [The Codex No 44 of the Hellenic Philological Association of Constantinople]. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Interdisciplinary Musicological Conference of the Department of Psaltic Art and Musicology of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Volos, Greece, June 2016, Volos Academy for Theological Studies (2017), pp. 159-179.
2. “Konstantinopolis’in Öncesi ve Bizans Sonrasi Müzik Mirası” [Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Musical Heritage of Constantinople] (with Thomas Apostolopoulos). In: Great History of Istanbul, V. 7, Islam Research Centre – ISAM Publishers and Istanbul Metropolitan City Council, Kültür AŞ. Istanbul (2015), pp. 20-35.
3. “The Art of Improvisation in the Greek Musical Heritage”. In: L’improvisation, Mondher Ayari (ed.) Paris. Delatour France – IRCAM – CNRS – Université de Strasbourge. pp. 183-201. (2015).
4. “Instrumentarium: Vocal art and the contemporary Greek instrumentarium”. In: Music in the Mediterranean, Volume I History, Feldman, W., Guettat, M., Kalaitzidis, K. (ed.), Project MediMuses in the context of European Union programme Euromed Heritage II, pp. 111-117 Thessaloniki (2005).
5. “The musical background, List of works, Some comments on Petros’ work”. In: CD booklet of Great Composers of the Mediterranean: Petros Peloponnesios. Project MediMuses in the context of European Union programme Euromed Heritage II, pp. 10-19 & 46-75, Thessaloniki (2005).
6. The musical traditions of Oinousses. In: CD booklet of “Sea of Memories”, Oinousses Maritime Museum, pp. 20-81, Athens (1999).
Selection of discography
A. Compositional work
1. The Musical Voyages of Marco Polo, World Village – Harmonia Mundi, Paris 2014.
2. Εξορία [Exile], En Chordais press. Thessaloniki 2005 / Buda Musique, Paris 2019.
3. Το Παραμύθι της Μουσικής [The Fairytale of the Music], En Chordais press, Thessaloniki 2008.
4. Προσμονή [Expectation], En Chordais press. Thessaloniki 1997.
B. Research, music editing, performance
1. Aman Sefarad! Buda musique, Paris 2015.
Melos, Accords Croisés, Paris 2012.
Grèce: Musique d’ Asie Mineure et de Constantinople, Ocora – Radio France, Paris 2010.
4. Στου Μελιού τους καφενέδες [“At the cafes of Meli”], Cultural Association “Saint John the Theologian”, Athens 2007.
5. Πέτρος Πελοποννήσιος [Petros Peloponnesios], Works of secular and ecclesiastical music of the great composer of 18th century Constantinople, En Chordais press. Thessaloniki 2005.
6. Ζαχαρίας ο Χανεντές [Zakharia Khaneneh], Works of secular and ecclesiastical music of the great composer of 18th century Constantinople. En Chordais press. Thessaloniki 2001 / “KALAN MUSIK”, Istanbul 2005.
7. Θάλασσα Θυμήσου [Sea of Memories], songs and tunes from Oinousses. Oinousses Maritime Museum. Athens 1999.
(For fully discography please see http://www.enchordais.gr/discography.php)